Sacrebleu! Apple fined for making French retail employees work late (Updated)

It's a rule of retail life that you often have to work long past closing time while you clean up or do inventory for the following day. But Apple Store employees in France won't have to do this anymore. As reported by the AFP (hat tip to the Verge), Apple has been ordered to stop asking its retail employees to work past 9pm—closing time—and must now pay €10,000 in damages to the unions who complained about the practice.

Six French labor unions had filed a complaint against Apple for having employees work as late as 11pm in order to prep the stores for the following day. This sounds completely normal to those of us who have worked in retail in the US, but French labor laws forbid requiring employees to work between 9pm and 6am (as well as Sundays, all day).

There are exceptions, of course: employees are allowed to work late only if the work they're performing is essential to the country's economic activity, or if they're providing social services. (One could try to argue that cleaning up the store for new iPhone buyers is essential to France's economy, but the French clearly don't see it that way.) Because Apple had been violating the labor law, a Paris court fined the company €10,000 (about US$13,000) plus €50,000 (about US$65,000) for every new violation, and another decision on the case is supposed to come down from the court on April 16.

Update: We've received some clarification of French labor laws from an Ars reader who asked not to be named. He says: "[W]orking past 8pm is of course allowed in France, no matter what is your activity sector. But if you ask your employees to work at these 'night' hours, you must follow a different paying scheme as the 'day' hours. The night hours are payed more than regular over time, if you work several night hours your employer must assure you that you will not work the day after, etc."

He went on to explain that Apple retail was not giving its employees the legal benefits of being required to work at night, arguing that its night hours were exceptional/rare.

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

Really? Is there a store anywhere that doesn't close before the employees begin post closing tasks?

The OP misrepresents the suit a little. They weren't in violation because workers had to stay past closing. They were in violation because workers had to work past 9pm. In France, most work is forbidden between 9pm and 6am. Apple could close at 8 or 8:30 and have everyone out by 9pm without being in violation, as far as I know.

I try not to stereotype people as I find it to be a derogatory practice. That said however, you are making it real hard not to think of your entire country as being full of bullish, rude, arrogant, lazy piss ants lately.

It's really no more absurd than laws that say you can't sell alcohol after 10pm or open stores on Main street on Sunday before church lets out.

French voters determined that the costs outweighed the benefits of having so many people work late at night and not see their families so they made public policy that prohibited requiring employees to work past 9pm. If you want 24/7 shopping, buy online.

If french law prevents companies from requiring employees to work between 9pm-6am, how do bars or restaurants stay open?

From the article (emphasis mine).

Quote:

There are exceptions, of course: employees are allowed to work late only if the work they're performing is essential to the country's economic activity, or if they're providing social services.

It's a translation problem.If your economic activity requires to work at night (restaurant), then no problem, you're good.If you are a social worker, people may need you at night, you're good.If you sell iPhones, well, maybe you clients can wait until morning to get their fix of shiny.

Amusing to read most of the negative comments here. Ok ok we get that in the US/UK/China/Wherever you work over 100h/week and make less than $1 a month so everyone should agree to the same terms to stay competitive... Shouldn't we instead all try to copy the French and protect the little guys? A "Trickle-down" economy doesn't work very well for most of us...

Every time I see one of these Euro stories about labor laws and regulations and such, I chuckle and think about how much hand-wringing and outcry there is over Apple charging more for their products in Europe.

As others have said, this just means they force their employees to come in an hour earlier to do the cleaning and prep work that was formerly done after closing the night before. As someone who worked retail in my youth and has never been a morning person, this doesn't strike me as progress. Now the employees who didn't get to spend time with their families in the evening will instead not get to spend time with their families in the morning. Viva la revelucion!

I am actually more surprised that there is no retail store open on Sunday at all. They makes little sense to me since Sunday is generally a day the vast majority of the public is actually free to do some shopping. Past 9 pm on weekdays is manageable if you plan ahead properly imo.

I don't read "social services" as meaning "service industry jobs" but it's possible this is just a poor translation from French I guess....?

So no retail is open past 9 PM? And no retail of any kind on Sundays?

I agree that's not what you'd normally call it, but I'm guessing that it's a poor translation. Even if it's not, it clearly states there are exceptions, and you'd expect that to be one of them. I don't live in France, so I don't know, but it really wouldn't surprise me if no retail was open past 9 PM.

Where I grew up (Norway) that was pretty much the case as well - at least where I lived (I believe one or two places were open till 10 PM), but I'm not sure whether that was required by law or not. Retailers weren't (and I believe still aren't) allowed to open on Sundays either, though there seem to be some loopholes (petrol stations stay open for example, even though they sell groceries).

Similar time windows aren't uncommon in a lot of mainland Europe (not sure about the UK though).

Australia is very similar. Some major grocery retailers are open 24/7 (and only in some parts of the country) but the majority of other businesses are closed by 9pm at the latest.

I had never seen 24/7 shopping until I moved to the US. Personally I don't have a need to go shopping in the middle of the night, but each to their own.

In many large stores like Walmart, restocking and cleaning and general store maintenance is done at night anyways, so the incremental cost of keeping a cash register or two open for the occasional customer is very small.

As others have said, this just means they force their employees to come in an hour earlier to do the cleaning and prep work that was formerly done after closing the night before. As someone who worked retail in my youth and has never been a morning person, this doesn't strike me as progress. Now the employees who didn't get to spend time with their families in the evening will instead not get to spend time with their families in the morning. Viva la revelucion!

As you've noted, coming in earlier is less appealing, thus Apple will have to pay their employees more in order to make the desirability of the job line up with pay. In the end, the worker wins by getting more pay.

From what I recall from my time there not as much as you'd expect. Getting anything other than a snack from the petrol station or horrifically drunk on a Sunday was pretty awkward for me, and this was Paris, not some village in the sticks. Came as quite a shock but once I organised myself to eat in the pub on Sundays it was fine

The UK's now pretty much open 24/7, both good and bad for the late-night munchies!

I had never seen 24/7 shopping until I moved to the US. Personally I don't have a need to go shopping in the middle of the night, but each to their own.

With all the people working second jobs, 2nd and 3rd shifts, or unpredictable part-time hours, it's probably more necessary to have all-hours shopping here. Of course we might just have a consumer culture gone crazy, too.

Amusing to read most of the negative comments here. Ok ok we get that in the US/UK/China/Wherever you work over 100h/week and make less than $1 a month so everyone should agree to the same terms to stay competitive... Shouldn't we instead all try to copy the French and protect the little guys? A "Trickle-down" economy doesn't work very well for most of us...

From what I recall from my time there not as much as you'd expect. Getting anything other than a snack from the petrol station or horrifically drunk on a Sunday was pretty awkward for me, and this was Paris, not some village in the sticks. Came as quite a shock but once I organised myself to eat in the pub on Sundays it was fine

The UK's now pretty much open 24/7, both good and bad for the late-night munchies!

Really? I'm in Glasgow and it's certainly not the case here. You get late night opening on thursdays, where some shops stay open until 7ish, but otherwise I don't know anywhere other than supermarkets and bars/restaurants/take aways which stay open later than 6:30

French voters have decided to organize their country in a way that leads to the social outcomes they desire. I don't understand why (presumably) American readers are commenting that these laws are antiquated, stupid etc.

American workers are getting less and less money for more and more work, due to pressure from corporations. This is the way they have chosen to organize their country, consciously or not. I don't think it's justifiable to call the French lazy just because they don't share the same value of capitalism above all human considerations.